Our scheduling allowed me to be able to go ahead and get another load of gravel once again to continue spreading it over the general staging/parking area between the main driveway and the west end of the house. The spreading is getting closer to the main car park area so eventually I'll get the area covered all the way to the main car park area, blending in the grounds into one great graveled floor that will allow us to park vehicles wherever we need to without the worry of getting stuck on mushy spots. The load of gravel that I got this time allowed me to cover an area the width of the F250, going from the established main fence line along the main driveway all the way up to where our smaller trailer is staged, about 8ft from the west end of the house. I did want to leave this area opened also because I plan on digging up the ground right at the west end of the house where I have a new drain pipe routed out from where I set up the walk in shower in our bathroom with the intent of being able to catch the gray water from the shower for use in watering the garden. I set the pipes up where only the shower and the bathroom sink are routed through this new run of pipe with the lowest point routed to the outlet at the west end of the house. This pipe will be routed into some underground tanks or drums that are connected together via pipes. When these tanks fill up, it will back up into the pipe going up to the next level of drain pipe, just above the lowest outlet, which is connected to the main drain line going to the septic system. This allows for gray water to freely flow into the holding tanks without allowing black water from the main drain line to flow into the same tanks. I'll do some reporting on that project at a later date. With the gravel spread, I moved back onto the Mustang. After gutting the interior I moved on to pulling the underside apart. I had the driveshaft, exhaust pipes, shifter, and engine/transmission mount bolts to take loose. I did this so when we get the car up to the garage, all I have to do is hook the engine crane to the engine and just yank up and pull the whole powertrain free from the car. I had to slide under the car of course in order to pull the shifter free, which took no time at all. The driveshaft required me going under the car from the trunk area and jacking up the rear to allow me to turn the wheels to better reach the U-bolt retaining nuts on the U-joint. After pulling those items the next thing was the exhaust system. To better facilitate the exhaust system's removal I cut free some more of the rotted floor so I can get better angles for me to hammer at the sections of pipe and the mufflers and in the worst case, cut the pipes. As I started getting things pulled free I started staging parts in the back of the S10 so I can bring the parts up to the garage for cold storage. The exhaust system is actually two separate systems, no H or X pipe linking the two. I was able to work on one side at a time all the way through, trying to minimize any cutting so I can at least try to reassemble the system with a minimum of couplings and/or welds. I actually did pretty good getting the system broken down without having to do any cutting surprisingly. The mufflers have more dents than one may care to have but otherwise they are still intact, not compromised in any way. I took the time to undo the headers from the engine as well since they would catch on the shock towers as the engine is lifted from the engine bay. In order to put the headers on I had to lift up each side of the engine off its respective engine mount to get the clearance necessary to install the header from under the car up into its resting spot next to the engine block where I could secure the unit to the exhaust ports. Since I wasn't trying to lift the engine off the mounts where the car is at, I just took the bolts free from the cylinder heads so the headers are just resting in place between the engine and the shock towers. When we do go to lift the engine and transmission from the car, the headers will be free to fall to the floor, unsecured from anything in the car. With that, I pulled everything I needed to pull free to have the car ready for powertrain removal. I will put a carb lifting plate on the engine so all I have to do is just hook the crane to that piece and pull the works from the engine bay. We do still need to get two more tires on the car so we can roll the car or more accurately, drag the car up to the garage. Putting fresh wheels on the car all around will also allow the car to rest evenly and high enough to move around underneath and get jacks under the car easier, not to mention be able to rest on car dollies so the whole thing can be moved around the garage with ease. As for the parts removed, they were all piled up and ready to take up to the garage. I still have to leave the hood on the car over the engine as I don't want any rain to go down the carb port and run into the engine and start the vicious cycle of rusting the engine from the inside out. Since this is the original powertrain from this car, it would be nice to be able to retain this with the body despite the body going on a truck frame. I also want to retain the original rear end from the car as well, which will require me to cut off the shock mounts from the Ranger rear end and re-weld them to the Mustang's rear end so it can be remounted under the Ranger truck frame. This is also necessary as the Ranger rear end is a higher ratio rear end geared for use with an overdrive transmission. The 3 speed C4 on the truck's original rear end would have the engine screaming at 3k + RPM on the highway. I would have to either deal with that inconsistency or replace the C4 with an overdrive transmission, stick shift or otherwise. It's easier to just install the Mustang's rear end with some minor re-working. The adventures will continue....
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